Review: AMD A10-6800K (32nm Richland)

Conclusion

...A10-6800K generally matches a price-equivalent Core i3-3225 in CPU-intensive tasks yet run rings around it when using the onboard graphics for gaming.

AMD's Richland APUs have now been transitioned to both laptop and desktop computers, replacing last year's Trinity models. Sporting the same architecture and form factor - Richland is a drop-in upgrade for FM2 desktop boards - the new APUs provide a very mild boost in performance over their predecessors.

While AMD has largely stood still in the move from one APU generation to another, Intel has improved on-chip graphics performance for its latest Haswell processors that were released at the start of the month. But AMD understands that its APUs' competition isn't against the dearer fourth-gen parts that start at £150, but, rather, against the £100 chips from Intel.

The A10-6800K's marginal gains over the previous-generation A10-5800K are somewhat disappointing when viewed in isolation but still enable it to generally match a price-equivalent Core i3-3225 in CPU-intensive tasks yet run rings around it when using the onboard graphics for gaming. Nothing much has changed in that regard.

AMD's well-balanced architecture would ordinarily make it a solid fit for a small-form-factor system, though, as before, we do have minor reservations of the 100W TDP the 6800K ships with, which may preclude the use of tiny coolers in space-constrained chassis. What AMD really needs is a chip that's practically as fast as the A10-6800K yet suckles on far less power. That APU just so happens to be the A10-6700 and we'll be taking a closer look at it in forthcoming editorial.

Bottom line: AMD's minor under-the-hood improvements enables the A10-6800K to supercede the A10-5800K in both CPU and GPU performance, and it can therefore be recommended as a solid, competent all-round chip that's suitable for a wide range of budget systems.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

Don't suppose you've got a 6700 hiding in the back room have you hexus? Be nice to see that compared to the 5800k & i3 - should have very similar performance but be much more impresive on the power draw side of things… :)